


The Hell He Got Himself Into

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Series: Prompt Fics [96]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Episode: s06e10 Still LIfe, Father-Son Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26083798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: Judge Stokes pays Nick a visit after Nick doesn't answer a few calls.
Relationships: Gil Grissom & Nick Stokes, Nick Stokes & Judge Stokes
Series: Prompt Fics [96]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540795
Comments: 12
Kudos: 15





	The Hell He Got Himself Into

**Author's Note:**

> prompted by an anon on tumblr!

_ “CSI Stokes, you have a visitor in the lobby. CSI Stokes, you have a visitor in the lobby.” _

It’s only the second visitor he’s had in a week, but at least he wasn’t caught off guard by this one. 

His parents flew back to Texas on the condition that he does a weekly check-in, which he managed to negotiate into a monthly check-in once he returned to work.

It’s been two months since he called, but in his defense, it’s been a very  _ busy  _ two months. 

But he knew something was bound to give sooner or later, did have at least the consideration of a thought of calling them this weekend, but also knew where he got his stubbornness and persistence from; the man standing tall and schmoozing the receptionist at the counter.

Nick inhales, the rapid beating of his heart hadn’t quite settled from the last visitor he received a few days ago (one that he’s kept mostly to himself though he knows that Grissom glances at the visitor log as part of his rounding checks of the lab at the start and end of shift.) He lingers in the hall, fidgeting with his fingers in sudden anxiety; does he politely push his guest away or will he let it escalate to the explosion that blew the man all the way back to Texas a few months ago?

“Two visitors in one week, you’re quite the talk of the town,” a lazy voice drawls into his burning ears.

“Yeah, thanks, Goose,” Nick sighs tightly. 

“Is...Isn’t that--?” Hodges starts, putting a hand on Nick’s shoulder making him jump out of his skin.

“Yeah,” Nick exhales, shaking him off. “Yeah it is.”

He turns the final corner, plasters on a smile. 

“Hey, Cisco!” Nick greets his father with an extended hand.

“Pancho,” Judge Stokes cracks a rare smile, accepting the offered hand and cupping the other behind Nick’s head before pulling him into an embrace. Nick lets his guard down just enough to feel the warmth behind the gesture, but when he pulls away the door is shut again and he feigns surprise. 

“What brings ya to Vegas?” he claps a hand on his dad’s shoulder.

“You haven’t returned my calls... _ Or your mother’s,”  _ he adds in a condescending tone that doesn’t match the smile that had remained on his face. A fake smile. He can see it in his eyes.

It’s a weird time for him to remember, but he hasn’t returned D.A’s calls either.

“So you hopped on a plane all the way here?” Nick takes a step back, scratching the back of his head. “Kind of...much, isn’t it?”

“Well, we tried to call the lab and when we did, a Mr. Hodges picked up and spoke about your most recent visitor…”

“Did he, now?” Nick grunted, twisting his head to find Hodges hugging the wall, spying in and disappearing the minute he catches the fire in Nick’s eyes.

“Son, if that monster is coming around here checkin’ up on you--” his father’s voice raises, traveling into the open door of Grissom’s office ahead of him.

“She wasn’t the monster, Dad,” Nick sighs. “She’s just...trying to turn her life around. It was a harmless visit, that’s all--”

“If her father was capable of...You need to stay away from her, you hear?” Judge Stokes lowers his voice to a harsh whisper, pointing a finger at Nick before he pinches the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes tight. “You have no idea what it was like watching you in that box.”

“Oh,” Nick laughs without a trace of actual humor in his body. “Yeah, I have  _ no idea.  _ Uh-huh, must have been  _ so hard  _ for you--”

“It was! You have no idea what it’s like to watch your son  _ die  _ in a-a penalty box of hell,” Judge Stokes spits out. “You know, maybe if you moved back to Texas, far away from this woman, you can meet one of your own, have sons of your own and maybe you’ll begin to understand--”

“Judge Stokes, what a surprise,” Grissom’s voice startles Nick, with another hand on his shoulder-- _ would people stop sneaking up like that?  _ “It’s nice to see you under...better circumstances.”

“Likewise, Mr. Grissom,” Judge Stokes straightens, pulling the lapels of his jacket. He puts on his judge persona, his fist holding the invisible mallet that he would use to hammer in his point. “Were you aware that my son had a visitor a few days ago in relation to his kidnapping?”

Grissom glances at Nick with an unreadable expression, Nick’s ears burn and his swallows his lips into himself as Grissom puckers his lips, and adjusts his posture to a defensive one.

“I am. As Nick was just telling her, it was  _ harmless.  _ I assure you, we’ve been keeping a close eye on your son, isn’t that right, Nick?”

“Y-yeah,” Nick stammers in slight astonishment. He hadn’t actually talked to Grissom about the incident yet, wasn’t necessarily planning on it and he had a feeling that conversation was on a high speed pursuit right to his heart. 

“Oh, that’s funny. See, my boy didn’t take to kindly to the special treatment he was given back home, so I would imagine he’d be just as ungrateful here--”

“Because your ‘special treatment’ was just me shuffling behind your feet all day so you could brag about me,” Nick mutters.

“What was that, boy?” Judge Stokes stiffens even harder, putting his hand on Nick’s unattended shoulder. He grips down tight, pinching his neck. 

“You see this is exactly why I left for Vegas. At least they don’t keep me on a  _ leash  _ around here,” Nick worms his way out of his father’s grasp, and out of Grissom’s too, for that matter. He circles and lands in front of them, the judge and jury. 

“I think it’s time for you to leave. I’m fine. You can tell Ma not to worry, and hell, I’ll even call her when I get off shift, okay?” 

Judge Stokes lifts his head up, examining Nick as he does his best to keep himself straight, puffing his chest out though there’s a slight hunch in his back but he won’t let his father see that.

“How ‘bout you give me a ride to the airport--?” 

“I’m afraid Nick and I have to discuss a very important matter on a case he’s working on. On his own,” Grissom chimes in, stepping between the two men. “He does his best work by himself. Grown to be very  _ independent  _ since he started here.” 

Grissom doesn’t wait for a response, just guides Nick into his office and shuts the door.

“You okay?” Grissom asks as Nick releases a breath he didn’t realize he was keeping in. 

“Yeah. Yeah,” Nick pants. “Thank you.”

“Now, tell me about your arson case.”

“Y-you were serious?”

“Yeah,” Grissom replies incredulously, gesturing for Nick to take the chair.

“You don’t...wanna talk about Kelly?” Nick approaches slowly, his hands waving in the air, pulling the words out of his mouth.

“What’s there to talk about? You seem to think she’s turning her life around. Maybe it’s time you did, too.”

Nick smiles, happy for the respect and chance that Grissom is offering him, the chance that his parents never really gave much thought to. 

The chance to forget the past, and move on with the present. Be his own man, make his own choices. 

They start to talk details of the case that he was working, going over his notes and Grissom giving him praise--something that’s been happening more frequently--on the level of detail he put in, saying he thinks this will be an easy day in court when the time comes. 

He even tells Nick, “good job,” which melts his defenses just enough for him to admit that he hadn’t quite been so unbothered about Kelly’s appearance as he’s led both his fathers to believe.

“She watched me at a crime scene,” Nick blurts out suddenly as Grissom signs off on his report. 

Grissom drops his pen, looks up at Nick through the rim of his glasses.

“I didn’t...didn’t wanna say anything cause I thought...though I was just...seeing her at first. Didn’t think it was real. Then she came here a-and told me that she’s been thinking a lot about what I said to her that day in the prison…”

Grissom cups his hands together, bowing his head as he remembers the drive they took together, and the unsettling silence in Nick afterwards. 

“I most definitely didn’t wanna tell my parents--I mean, you saw...That’s why I never told them about Crane, either.”

Grissom flinches at the name.

“And I know deep down that none of what happened in that...that box was my fault. But every time someone checks in on me, it-it’s like they’re just... _ hovering  _ and trapping me right back in there.”

Nick doesn’t know why he’s talking so much about this, especially to Grissom, of all people. But Grissom says nothing and he continues on.

“I get that they just care but they’re just so...suffocating. And just wanna bottle me up and keep me on a shelf, thinking I won’t get hurt...They tried to get me to move back after the...incident.”

“I know. They had talked to me and Catherine about it.”

Nick lets out a disheartened chuckle.

“Of course they did.”

“But...while they may be your parents, and while you may be their son for the rest of your life...You’re an adult, Nick. You can make your own decisions. You’re not a piffling anymore.” 

Nick laughs at the reference. 

“Can’t believe you remember that…” he wipes his nose with the back of his finger.

“I put a lot of value in the knowledge you give me, Nick. You’re very wise and know more than you may realize yourself. And brave, too. Took a lot of courage to stand up to your father like that.”

“Yeah, but you kind of helped with that,” Nick shrugs as Grissom pauses, as if contemplating whether he should continue on or leave the conversation there.

“I’m very proud of you, Nick,” Grissom tells him, his face scrunched in a thought,  _ why have I never told him this before?  _

He picks up his pen and continues his work without another word, while Nick freezes in a panic. It’s not until Catherine enters the room and runs a hand through his hair that he finds the strength to get up and leave--his father should be long gone by now, or so he hopes and he finds himself in the locker room, opening the door and staring into the group picture of the barbeque they held at Nick’s house at the end of the summer from hell. 

They may not be blood, but they’re as much as family to him as the misguided real one is, perhaps somehow even more. 


End file.
